General Chat

Have you seen the news? She looked stricken. How could they deny someone a life saving drug? I hope it is NEVER me. Deanna X

Its A disgrace, I can not understand our system and never will, what right has anyone to deny a person a drug that could save their life!!!!!!!!!!

Probably because its out of her area, I think only certain areas use this drug,correct me if Im wrong!

The drug should be available to everyone, what on earth has the Post Code to do with your health? Its digusting. june xx

Totally appalling and immoral that cost, or where you live should dictate the difference between life and death. I hope the lady in question fights this and wins. Bev x

Yes you are right , it's a postcode choice!!! How do they justify this?? Deanna X

Roxanne you are probaby right. It's a post code lottery nowadays for health services. IVF, cancer most ,if not all, health treatments depend on where you live as to whether you get it or not. Different NHS trust fund different things, what's available in one may not be available in another.

I'm sure her doctors are far better able to judge treatments than the media. It's not the miracle drug the press claims it is, because it is only effective on a very specific type of breast cancer that only effects 20% of breast cancer patients. It's useless for 80% of patients. Herceptin also causes serious heart problems. This is not her only treatment option. Well over 70% of breast cancer patients are cured by licenced drugs already available, none of which will give her a fatal heart attack in five years' time.

She has a very virulent cancer. ANYTHING which would help should be given. Her own Doctor prescibed it in the first place. I don't think the media are to blame here. Deanna X

This drug has been 'blown up' by the media. It is not a miracle drug. I am sorry but 'you can't put a price on life' is very easy to say but in the real world it has to happen. A doctor said on Panorama 'for the cost of treating one woman with this drug which works for only about one in twenty I could save twenty more with other problems, is that right?' (or something like that). Is it right that those who shout loudest go to the front of the waiting list? Now if we're talking waste, inefficiency and created jobs in the NHS that's a different matter ! Bob

I do agree with Robert here. Two points: (1) Media hype is to blame for a lot of the situation. If a drug is ** not licensed ** for a certain condition (eg early stage breast cancer) its generally for a very good medical reason, not just the cost. With any drug you have to weigh up the possible side-effects as well as any potential benefit. If you are still in the early stages, there is a good chance that one of the existing treatments will work with fewer long-term side effects. (2) I know if you've been told your condition is terminal you will grasp at any chance - but at the end of the day, ''someone'' has to pay for it. Until recently I worked in cancer research, looking at a really aggressive type of brain tumour (glioblastoma). The sad truth is, a diagnosis of this usually means less than a year to live, no matter WHAT you do. One drug - also the subject of a ruling by NICE - could extend life by 2-3 months. But (as with Herceptin), this only worked on a certain percentage of patients. We could do lab tests to predict which ones would benefit, but these tests are not generally available (unless you have a university nearby researching that particular topic.) The drug is also really expensive, which is why NICE initally refused to put it on the ''approved'' list. So many people said 'not fair' they gave in to the pressure. But this type of tumour affects probably only 2,000 - 3,000 people a year in Britain, so overall the cost is much lower, as you'd only be taking it for max 9 months or so. With the more common types of cancer - breast cancer, some leukaemias etc - you could be talking tens of thousands of people taking some drugs for 5 years or more. Who pays? Given the choice between (eg) IVF or an expensive cancer therapy, which is a more justified use of public money? The sensible thing is to put a lot more money into doing lab tests on tumours to work out which drugs would work, and also putting more money into research to develop these drugs. I do not work for a drug company. They are partly to blame for this situation.

deanna, Thanks ,I thought it was to do with various areas. I think its disgraceful that just because you live in a certain area you cant get the treatment. If this poor woman cant get this drug because her cancer has gone too far I feel so very sorry for her, I still think she should be given the chance,who knows? I think anyone of us would want the chance if we were in her situation, I find the way our money is spent is not for the benefit of all, Manchester Is a prime example of that, hospitals in manchester are a Disgrace!!! and the whole health system is a sham, its about time our money was spent on things everyone can benefit from not just a few!

Deanna This is very sad for her and I hope she has other options. A friend of mine has just started on Herceptin, not on a postcode lottery but because there are no more options for her. She had to fight long and hard for it though. Another friend's daughter recently died from the form of brain tumour Vicky described. A year from diagnosis to death and she was lucky to have survived that long. Nothing would have made any difference in the end but the family would have grabbed any chance offered just in case a miracle might have happened. I guess that when faced with something so awful we all want a miracle and at the very least a fighting chance. Daisy